Gender equality, gender norms/values/stereotypes ...
Dear Elizabeth and all colleagues,
This course is very interesting in that I see a lot of diverse experiences and view points ans am learning from them. Regarding gender equality, I think its treatment of male and female as having equal rights eg in equal pay for same jobs, equal access to opportunities and including education.
Gender norms and values are underlying beliefs and practices that cause people to behave and treat male and females differently. e.g the belief that cooking is a responsibility of women causes males to shun cooking in the home, while they 'cook' as chefs in the hotel. The same values causes women to discourage male children from doing courses they feel are female eg being a personal assistant to a female boss. --Smauye 08:39, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
Dear Colleagues,
Gender equality is the equality between women and men in relation to rights, opportunities, responsibilities, valuation and treatment both in workplaces and in business and in work and general life. There should be a balance in every area regardless of the sex. Gender norms/values/stereotypes are ideas or perceptions of what women and men are capable of doing or achieving and what men and women should actually do.
Hi All,
Gender equality means a fair and equal distribution of opportunities, responsibilities, income/wages, treatment, as well as decision making opportunities between both sexes in work, community or family life. The criteria for distribution should be based on capacities/abilities, intellect, and qualifications and not on societal expectations, tradition or stereotypes e.g. from the examples stated yesterday, of a man and woman having the same workload in the office, and the man earns higher because of the belief that he is the Head of the Home and ‘Provider’, when this happens, it raises issues of gender equality.
On the issue of gender equality, I would also like to highlight another issue on equal treatment, because it is often very subtle and may go unnoticed; Sometimes women in decision making positions may not be given equal respect by male subordinates, in comparison with their male counterpart, because of the perceived notion that a woman should be under the authority of a man. This also plays out in business, where men may prefer doing business with other each other rather than with a woman, because of the belief that men make better business partners, this also affects women in enterprise.
Gender norms/values and stereotype are those beliefs, ideas and ideals that guides societal expectations of the roles and responsibilities, of each sex. In my own understanding, gender norms/values and stereotypes are sometimes the underlying reasons why gender equality issues are common in the work place and in the community.
Hi Everyone,
In my own little understanding gender equality means the human right in fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits, responsibilities, opportunities and to enjoy the complete range of cultural right, economic, political and social in both sex.
Gender values are peoples belief, like the ethnic group, gender group, age group and social classess
Hi! evryone ,I will send my comments and understanding on gender issues tomorrow , was still going through the document and getting to understand it.
Thank you.
Hi every one. Gender issues can never come at better time than this one after A Buzz women's day celebration and more that one of the Politicians in Southern province gave a clear cut definition of Gender.
It is what every one has communicated through on this chat. From advocacy point of view, Gender is a tool used to advocate for sustainable development. Involve both Women and Men in National Development be it a man or a woman. Broaden a tax base for the national reserve because of targeting both women and Men.
For sex it is simply a way of differentiating man from a woman
I will contribute more later, regards elizabeth
Hello everyone
My understanding of gender equality is that it is about acknowledging that men and women are not the same but they have equal value and should be treated equally. Equal treatment could be by giving equal pay for equal work. It could also be by allowing both men and women to vote.
Gender stereotypes are generalisations about male and female attributes. For instance it is believed that women are more caring and men are financial providers. These generalisations are usually not correct. As a result of stereotyping, individuals may be regarded to be superior or inferior based on their sex
Hello Mulakam, Kaziba, Isaac, Chichi,Shining Star, Smauyed and the rest of participants,
I feel so proud to relise how much information and interest that all of you have in issues of gender. All of you have provided very correct and interesting contributions on gender, sex, gender roles from the previous discussion and now on gender equality and gender values/norms/stereotypes.
Mulakam, you are right that gender equality espexts both a woman and a man to get equal pay if they have the same qualifications and also do the same job. A man and a woman should only get different salaries if they are not doing the same job and they do not have the same qualifications if there is gender equality. It is only in a country or society where there is no gender equality where a man will get a higher salary than a woman just because he is a man and society says that a man has to get a higher salary than a woman even when they have same qualifications and are doing same job just because he is a man, he is a bread winner and head of a household as indicated by Shining Star. Shining Star, you are right that in such a case, definitely there is gender enaqualities. i also agree with you Shining Star that there are still a number of cases in many countries where some male subordinates look down upon their female supervisors or do not take decisions made by their female supervisors becuase societ expects a woman to always be led by a man. Actually, Shining Star and colleagues, ther also some female subordinates who also look down upon female supervisors because society tells them that a woman can not be a leader and therefeor, they believe that they can not be let by a fellow woman. Chichi and Smauyed, thank your contibutions on gender equality and norms/values/steotypes. I also want to welc ome Kaziba to the discussion.
After having said what I said above, allow me to remind you what is in your notes about gender equality, values/norms/stereotypes.
Gender equality - equal rights, responsibilities, opportunities,treatment and valuation of women and men at work places and in business and in the relation between work and life. Gender equality also includes the same human and workers' rights and equal value and fair distribution of responsibilities, opportunities, workload, decision making and income.
It is alos important to note that gender equality will benefit both women and men and therefore both women and men should work together to attain gender equality.
Gender norms/values/sterewotypes - is the ideas/perceptions of society on what they want women and men to be like e.g a man should not cry in public, a woman should not talk in the presence of men etc.
They are also ideas and perceptions of society on what they want women and men to do.
Norms/values/stereotypes are just ideas and perceptions but are not yet happenning and this is what makes them different from gender roles. Gender roles is what women and men already do. This is why in our discussion on gender roles, I continued making a correction that gender roles is what women and men are already doing and not what socierty want them to do.
I hope and trust that we are all getting clear about some of these gender tems because it is important that we are clear about them as trainers in order for us to provide the correct information.
There are more gender terms in your notes wwhich we may not be able to discuss due to lack of time. I want to ask and encourage all of you to take time to read and understand them. You can ask me any questions during the week and any time you feel like.
We now want to look at a new discussion on the gender constraints that young people face in business and what we can do about them.
Gender equality simply describes a 50-50 win affair for both males and females, men and women. This can come through equal rights, responsibilities, opportunities, treatment and valuation of women and men at work in jobs or enterprises and in the relation between work and life. I currently hold the view that most people only talk about gender equality when males dominate than females in a particular instance. On the other hand, the terminology, gender equality is silent where there are more females dominating in another setting. There are clear examples to support this argument. One of them is that, the MDG 3 which states that "Promote gender equality and empower women" links gender equality to women. In Ghana and most countries, no one talks about gender equality in the nursing profession where females are mostly dominated and men cannot rise to the top. Really, should that be the case? But gender equality suggests equal rights, responsibilities, opportunities, treatment and valuation of women and men at work in jobs/enterprises and in the relation between work and life so it my opinion, it should not only be assumed on the other side.
Gender norms/values/stereotypes are the various assumptions, theories people hold on what women and men should possess, be like, what they are capable of doing and what uniquely identifies them. Gender norms in most cases are clearly defined by culture or society right from childhood. In Ghana, most of the academic institutions have females as Assistant School prefects or Vice SRC Presidents. Such positions are just the highest a female can rise to. Gender norms vary from place to place. On the other hand, some individuals may defy such norms and try to move to the other side of the accepted norm or value. In such cases, names are clearly assigned to these individuals. Example in Akan language is ↄbaa-barima (Man-woman) or masculine woman. --Kafuiaheto 21:59, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
Hi,
Gender Equality refers to equal opportunities, equal rights, equal treatment and valuation of women and men at work and in the relation between work ad life. Example fair distribution of worklaod, decision making and sharing of income as while as equal rights and opportunities i business and government position.It is all about peolpe (Men and Women) are treated with dignity. Gender Equality is the state or condition that affords women and men equal enjoyment of human rights, socially valued goods, opportunities, and resources. women having the same opportunities in life as men, including the ability to participate in the public sphere an equal visibility, empowerment and participation of both sexes in all spheres of public and private life. accepting and valuing equally the differences between women and men and the diverse roles they play in society.
Gender Norms and Values are ideas of the people on what women and men should be like and what they are capable of doing.
Gender Stereotype occurs when men or women are persistently attributed certain characteristics or roles, thereby creating the belief that these are invariably linked to gender. For instance, the perceptions that all women are weak and caring and that all men are strong and able to make important decisions -Gender stereotyping reinforces gender inequality -Gender stereotypes account for women having much less access than men to key productive resources such as education, land, income, credit, and employment, which significantly reduces the leverage they have in negotiating protection with their partners and greatly affects their ability to cope with the impact of infection
This is what I understand from these terms:
Gender equality: This is an (ideal) situation where women and men have equal opportunities. I say ideal since this is how it should be...... but can't be.
Gender norms:These are the socially correct expectations of members of each gender eg it is against the norms of men to wear earrings and cutex. It is also not the norms of women to lean against a wall and urinate... while you will find a whole grown-up man doing that without much ado!
Gender values:These are those habits that are taken to be fitting for members of either gender. eg it is a gender value that a woman should line her dress as she is sitting and a man should assist a woman (from danger) as a gender value
Gender stereotypes:These are the myths and propagandas attached to the fact of being in the respective gender. Of course they affect women more. eg it is a gender stereotype to believe that women are gossipers and possessive jealous beings (though there may be some truth in that)
Hi all,
Like already said by others gender equality is what development workers and activists strive for, the equal treatment, access to resources for males and females without prejudice.
Gender norms and values are deeply held beliefs that drive the actions of people and institutions. These normally work against the achievement of gender equality for example the belief that women are made for domestic work, while men are for the public domain.--Smauye 13:52, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
